E3 2004: F.E.A.R. Impressions

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Monolith shows us why we shouldn't be afraid of their next big title.

By Dan Adams

So I have to say, even though the title made me snicker a little bit, I was curious about this title because the screens look really good and it's being developed by Monolith. Well I had a chance to see a quick presentation of the game today, what looks to be the very beginning, and it was good. The demo got into the action quickly and stayed there. But the action isn't where it stopped, things got genuinely creepy towards the end thanks to some paranormal weirdness.

We've already explained the premise and outlined the features, so we'll skip ahead and jump into the game. The demo began with the player character sitting in a helicopter being transported to the site of a break in by some paramilitary goons. The copter flew over some water towards some buildings on the waterfront and after circling for a second, descended to let the character off on the top of the building, something that the enemies weren't exactly keen on.

The first weapon shown was a shotgun, which obviously does a lot of damage, but isn't exactly accurate or fast. The only other player weapon shown during the demo was an SMG. Both of these weapons are fairly uninteresting, but are still obvious choices to begin a game with. Aside from those conventional firearms, our hero was loaded with a ton of grenades. Now, these are normal grenades that go boom, but Monolith has decided to make them flashier in their explosive presentation. Instead of just a boom and some flames, players get a boom, some flames and a really cool shockwave that comes out in a semi-sphere from the point of impact. That explosion has some serious collateral effects though, and they almost make more sense with that shockwave effect. Glass shatters, paintings fall from walls, thing get knocked over... you get the picture. After an intense battle with tons of gunfire and grenades, players will be standing in the wake of serious destruction. It's cool to see the mayhem post encounter.

In fact, the whole game looked great. Their new engine, not Lithtech as we've come used to seeing from them, takes advantage of everything that we've become used to seeing in high end shooters and can handle some huge gunfights. It needs a bit of optimization, but they have a lot of time for that, so I can't say I'm worried.

There were a ton of enemies in the level they demoed, most of them wielding the same conventional weapons. There was one point with cyber ninja enemies with crazy cloaking devices that gave an effect somewhat like the normal Predator effect you see in many games, but ultimately cooler because of a neat blur effect when they move.

One of the cooler things about the combat in this game is that it isn't only about guns. Your character will also have a variety of melee attacks available to them dependant on controller movements and context. Jump kicks, punches, regular kicks, leg sweeps and more can be used when dealing with enemies. No word on whether there will be specific moments when hand-to-hand will be required, but it seems like a possibility.